Well, when I started building computers, the CPU was located at the front bottom of the case. Then came ATX, and then BTX compatible cases... then everyone said "meh" and kept ATX.

It's just not worth it to make a new standard for cases and motherboards when custom builders are such a small portion of the overall market. All the big companies pay for custom boards if they need them, but most consumer-oriented brands have thrown in the towel and use mATX for lower cost and higher customer satisfaction due to future upgrade compatibility with different boards and add-on cards.Reply

My first build was an AT case and I haven't built an ATX system for myself or anyone else is quite a few years. Most of my systems have been mATX based using Apevia QPACK cases with an upgraded PS. My systems/users are not for heavy gamers, so multiple graphic cards are not needed.

I am moving my personal systems to mini-ITX format now. I find it unnecessary these days to have a big case, since I have a separate home-server for all my content storage. Using a SSD and an AMD APU based system more than does the job for my needs.

The ATX standard is adequate. But why is so hard to make a good looking AND functional case? There are some good looking cases that are barely functional, some functional cases that are butt-ugly and everything else is either boring or gaudy.Reply

Because everyone's idea of good-looking is different.Some people like plain square boxes, some like case doors, some like plexiglass windows, some like blinky lights, some like black mesh, some like pointy bits...Ask ten people to name the best-looking cases on the market, expect ten different answers.

Personally, I like the original Phantom. I don't understand how the best-looking case I've ever seen can be considered gaudy, but obviously tastes differ.I used to run in an old Antec Solo that I also loved(though not quite so much). And I've never understood how it could be considered ugly, but some people did. Reply

I'm sure it doesn't help case designers that the ATX specification has been around since 1995 and hasn't changed all that much since. You can only do so much when your case design revolves around a 12" x 9.6" flat board (or a 9.6" x 9.6" or a 6.7" x 6.7" board, for that matter). Motherboard designers and component manufacturers would have to agree on a new specification for us to see a radical change in 'standard' case designs.Reply

You know, the AT-case with the non-replacable power supply, because it needed to be hardwired to the front-panel power button? And all those sharp-edged, hard to access drive cages? And the total lack of any kind of ventilation outside of the power supply, because nobody owned a 225W-GPU anyways, let alone several?Reply

You can buy a case today that will allow you to pop in a couple of high-end video cards without the need for even buying additional fans. A decade ago, you could hardly run one card without pulling off the side cover and setting up an external fan to blow into the case.

But case design is largely based on mainboard format, and the rest of the components that go into the build. Those haven't changed much in 20 years, so the appearance and function of cases is going to remain similar. How I'll agree with you is to say the ATX format isn't serving us well today (particularly those of us interested in building high-end rigs). No mainboard form factor advance is something of a limit to advances in case design.Reply

Having recently assembled a build in a circa-2001 case that was collecting dust in my basement, I'm a bit torn. Tthere've been innumerable QoL advancements in case design; 120mm fans, more flexible fan mounting options, more general recognition of cable management, fewer hard edges, and so on and so forth.

My old case works surprisingly well, but it was also an unusually expensive product at the time, and I searched high and low for it (and I don't even remember which company manufactured it). Even so, it's noisier than it needs to be simply because it uses 80mm fans. Cable management is nonexistent; I had to bundle up and toss every loose cable into the drive cages. I had to jury-rig my own fan filters.

As others have pointed out, there's only so much true innovation anyone can impose on the ATX standard. If I have one complaint about current-day cases, it's that they all seem to come with a bottom-mounted PSU, which is fine if you plan to place the box on a hard floor or on your desk, but even a well-filtered down-facing PSU makes me extremely nervous when I'm placing the computer on a carpeted floor. Call me paranoid, but I'd like more options there.Reply

I'm digging your reviews lately, but I really with you'd use an ATX sized motherboard instead of a mATX.

With an ATX motherboard in certain cases, it may be cramped / difficult to access: - the SATA ports, when pushed up against the hard drive cage(s) (especially those mobos with SATA ports pointing sideways off the board) - the front case header connectors on the motherboard, when pushed against the lower portion of a case - the rear side of the 5.25" bays

Even if you continue testing with mATX for consistency, would you please consider temporarily placing an ATX motherboard in each case, taking a picture, and commenting on whether any issues arise compared to an mATX board?Reply

I completely agree. With any case that fits an ATX motherboard, I want to know if I will have any issues with Sata cables and long graphics cards specifically, and everything crimson mentioned above as well.

Dustin can you please follow up with an ATX space analysis, or as a bare minimum, a picture. as crimson describes above?Reply

Part of the problem is that there's no major incentive to use an ATX board in general anymore. I have one in my desktop, but even if I used SLI I'd still only need four slots total. :|

The clearance thing is admittedly worth considering. I'm not sure how well I can address this without trying to acquire an ATX board to test with, and then you have to keep in mind that some ATX boards are not as wide as others; meanwhile, our Micro-ATX board is actually *wider* than most mATX boards are. So when you're looking at the depth of the board and its proximity to the drive cages (including the side-oriented SATA connectors), that actually *is* what a conventional ATX board's clearance will be. Our mATX board is as deep as a standard ATX board.

I'm pretty sure you guys are going to chop my head off and crap down my neck when you see what I'm planning for my super high stress testbed, but a lot of this is a matter of using what will fit the widest number of builds and allow me to get the most testing done.Reply

I'm rockin' a Sonata III with the popular GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 (12" x 9.6") and it's nearly impossible to access the SATA ports due to the hard drive cages - especially while my modest 6850 GPU is installed.

Agreed, really sad to see something that costs, for all intents and purposes, nothing be excluded. Hell, take away the bottom one. That's where the PSU goes, why would anyone even put fans there? So close, SO SO close. Happily I'm not building a new desktop until late summer to fall this year. Hopefully my ideal case has been released by someone by then.

You REALLY need to do something about your noise floor. 30db is crazy loud. Makes you sound testing only partially usable. Go to a basement with no other equipment. Go to a bedroom. Do SOMETHING to get that noise floor down to more realistic levels.Reply

30db is not crazy loud. It is a whisper.Mine measure 30db at seating position and I can't hear it with normal house ambient noise.Even in the dead of night its barely noticeable. Typing and clicking the mouse is far louder than my computer. If you aren't typing or using your mouse, then what good is the computer?Reply

They're working on it. That's actually part of why I elected to review Nanoxia's stuff. You guys were interested, the products are actually really good, and the review helps them make a case (no pun intended) with American distributors.Reply

One good reason to choose DS2 could be if you cannot squeeze a 230mm case in your computer hold. I know it might sound silly to some of you, but that is a real problem for me now and that "wide" case I've got. I was lookig for a nice quiet and thin case for about 6 months now. I think I've found it.Reply

"The DS2 is likely going to be the standard bearer for quiet cases under $100. That assumes Nanoxia hits the price point in the States that they're targeting, much as some of the DS1's success rides on that same factor. Yet the DS2 sells for 89 Euros (and the DS1 for 119) .... At the same time, though, the Deep Silence 2 doesn't really feel different enough from the Deep Silence 1 to really merit a purchase. Yes, you'll be able to save $20"

Firstly, that'll be closer to a $30+ cheaper using your implied exchange rate. It may not sound much but when you're trimming $30 here and the case, $50 on a cheaper soundcard, $50 on an i5 instead of an i7, $20 off a cheaper PSU etc etc it all adds up. $30 isn't nothing.

"It's like the used games at Gamestop that go for a whole $5 less than new. What's the point?"

Er... because all the 1s and 0s are the same anyway? All those $5s add up and can soon be spent on another game. Or, you know, food and bills and stuff.

You've got to remember just because you're a tech enthusiast who won't skimp, there are plenty who are still enthusiasts but trying to cut costs where they can...Reply

The 820? 620? You spend time reviewing those, giving gold and bronze awards, and then you don't include them in the benchmarks? You also mention NZXT in this review too. It's like talking about the Nexus 4 right after the iPhone 5 release and not comparing two flagship phones...Reply

Sorry. Better analogy might be HTC One and SGS4. I'd imagine two flagship Android phones would get heavy comparisons, but if you were to do a review without accounting for the other, that would be an epic fail.Reply

I recently got this case and am not happy with it. It has thin cover plates which tend to vibrate defeating its Deep Silence acronym. There are also some tiny rust spots bulging through the white paint while a cage on the inside has a more significant amount of rust. :S

I haven't read all of the comments, so I don't know wether it's mentioned, but where the review states, that the front intake has no filter, that's not true. There still is one to the front, though that's not as easy accessible as at the DS1, and there is one at the bottom, of course.Reply